


Pasadena Iced Coffee

by chaya



Series: M9 Beverage Series [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Time, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-06 14:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17941346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaya/pseuds/chaya
Summary: A sequel to Five Soda Maximum.





	1. Chapter 1

Molly has both seats to himself on the train, so after the first hour he pulls his bag down from the overhead storage and sets it down next to him. He curls his tail around the strap and looks out the window.

**Jester (spa emoji): have you seen Frumpkin’s insta? (blue heart eyes emoji)**

Frowning, Molly tabs over to Instagram and checks Magic_Cat. They’re going through a weird part of the midwest right now and his signal isn’t great, so it takes a while for the content to reload.

The photo is a close-up of Frumpkin’s neck and chest; he’s wearing a little bow tie attached to his collar.  _We are picking up someone special today, so it is a nice excuse to dress up._

Molly laughs quietly and flushes. Ever since Caleb took over Frumpkin’s account from Toya, there have been many fewer filters but many more captions.

**Me: omg I hadn’t seen that**

**Jester (spa emoji): I thought you were going tomorrow until I saw that!**

**Me: No it’s definitely today**

**Me: Frump’s very meticulous about his calendar**

**Jester (spa emoji): hahaha**

Outside, trees are passing by as blurs and Molly takes a moment to look out at something further away, a streaky cloud, to try to settle his stomach. He’s pretty sure it’s not the train so much as nerves that’s getting to his stomach, but it can’t hurt.

His phone has beeped a few times. It’s the group chat.

**Jester (spa emoji): so Molly’s actually going to see Caleb TODAY so when we get radio silence for the next two weeks, now everyone knows why**

**Beau (yoga emoji): yeah it’s always been today hasn’t it**

**Fjord (boat emoji): lol**

**Nott (green fist emoji): yes, the 24th!**

**Fjord (boat emoji): Jester doesn’t do great with calendars**

**Jester (spa emoji): shhhhhhhhhh**

**Me: I’m ETA in 28 minutes so get your jokes in now, I won’t be checking in with you losers**

**Nott (green fist emoji): (pink skin male emoji) (blue skin male emoji) (cat emoji) (bowtie emoji)**

**Beau (yoga emoji): omg I saw that insta it’s so fuckin cute**

**Fjord (boat emoji): that lil furball is all grown up!!**

**Fjord (boat emoji): right? are cats adults at 1 or 2?**

**Me: yeah he’s a gentleman cat now (bowtie emoji)**

The little elvish girl on the other side of the aisle is asking her mother something, but she’s mumbling and Molly’s elvish still isn’t great, even after graduation. The words  _purple_ and  _man_  are easily picked out, though. Molly hides his grin behind his hand.

The mom whispers something admonishing. It’s probably about his tattoo? Molly looks down at it, smiling at the way the snake coils around his arm, and does a long stretch forward to show it off in case the kid is curious. He wishes he remembered the elvish word for snake.

**Beau (yoga emoji): but can we please go back to ‘28 minutes’**

**Fjord (boat emoji) molls like (clock emoji) (eyes emoji)**

****Nott (green fist emoji): well yeah, 2 months…**  
**

**Me: I’m on a train! What am I gonna do but check the time and apparently get stared at by a little elfin cherub**

**Jester (spa emoji): Tell them you’re taken**

**Me: she’s like 10**

**Beau (yoga emoji): who knows with elves though. 40? has her postdoc?**

**Fjord (boat emoji): Caleb’s gonna check his phone and have 999 messages on this fuckin chat**

**Nott (green fist emoji): that’s why he has it muted. hell I have it muted too**

“Hello?”

Molly looks up from his phone and blinks at the little girl. She has dark hair in little ringlet curls, and she’s standing in the aisle leaning toward him. Behind her he can see a desperately apologetic mother trying to tug her back.

“Hi,” Molly says, with a bright smile. He uses the same voice he does in children’s plays, the one that’s big and friendly, and she seems to respond to it.

“Can I see your snake?”

“You… may… see my tattoo, yes.” Molly holds out his right arm, splaying his fingers and holding the back of his hand out for her to see. “But uh, please don’t touch it? I only took the wrapping off a few days ago.”

“You wrapped it like a  _present_?” The girl says wonderingly. She’s leaning in further, hands on the bag seat’s armrest now.

“No, um, when you get a tattoo, it’s tender, sort of like a bruise? Or a cut, that can get dirt in it… so you wrap it up in plastic wrap to keep it safe.” Molly thinks fast. “But also, it’s important to only get tattoos when you’re a grown-up.” For the mom. “And they hurt a lot to get.”

“Are  _you_  a grown-up?” The girl eyes him critically, making Molly laugh.

“I just graduated high school a few months ago, so… yes? I’m eighteen.”

“Mom says elves aren’t grown-ups until after that.”

“I’d listen to your mom. She sounds smart.”

The girl looks over her shoulder, and the mother takes the opportunity of locked eye contact to pull her kid back to her seat. “I’m sorry,” she says delicately, smiling. “She’s very chatty.”

“It’s fine,” Molly reassures her, leaning back into his seat and checking his phone again.

**Me: how old do I look?**

**Fjord (boat emoji): stop trying to buy booze on the train lol**

**Beau (yoga emoji): so wait, he’s got like consultant work AND he’s in school, are you gonna go with him to class?**

**Me: yeah beau yeah man**

**Me: spot me in the 600 level engineering classes like “what is ram”**

**Nott (green fist emoji): sdfjlk**

**Beau (yoga emoji): “when do we learn to hack mainframes”**

**Me: his security consulting stuff is all online he does it whenever. I’ll hang out at his apt while he’s in classes**

**Fjord (boat emoji): stem majors can sniff out a theater major a mile away, they’ll herd around the classroom door in a protective circle**

**Jester (spa emoji): like a herd? lol**

**Me: being in a theater company isnt’ the same as majoring**

**Nott (green fist emoji): no it’s BETTER**

**Jester (spa emoji): yeah most of those college kids will never get a callback! you do you**

**Me: (blue skin sweating emoji)**

**Fjord (boat emoji): caleb makes plenty, you’re fine**

_I can cook and clean and wear poodle skirts,_  Molly thinks to himself, only a little sarcastically.

**Beau (spa emoji): also you get good reviews**

**Me: yeah for 2 performances**

**Beau (spa emoji): and you’ve been in… 2… (eye roll emoji)**

**Jester (spa emoji): yeah shut up molly you’re good**

**Fjord (boat emoji): yeah**

**Fjord (boat emoji): shut up**

“Folks, begin gathering your belongings and preparing to disembark, we’re a little ahead of schedule as the train ahead of us is already departing the station. We’ll be reaching our destination in about ten minutes, the temperature is 82 degrees and sunny…”

Molly feels his stomach flip.


	2. Chapter 2

_Don’t freak out on a freaking Amtrak train_ , Molly chides himself.

He starts a new text to Caleb.

**Me: Apparently ahead of schedule? 10min**

Caleb often doesn’t check his phone for long periods, but sooner than expected, his phone beeps back:

**Caleb Widogast (orange heart emoji): I am at the station under the big  yoga elf**

The what?

**Me: The what?**

It’s a few moments before an image text comes in - a slightly blurry phone picture, taken from below, of an enormous poster for a gym. In the foreground is a slim elf woman in immaculate makeup, sitting peacefully on a mat with her legs crossed. Molly giggles.

**Me: how big is she**

**Caleb Widogast (orange heart emoji): I think like six feet. and she is sitting**

**Me: move!! she could reach down and eat you up!!**

**Caleb Widogast (orange heart emoji): no i am not vegan-friendly**

The train is starting to slow down. Molly can feel his heart beating a little faster, flush on his cheeks -  _it hasn’t been that long_ , he chides himself, but he can already feel his tail curling ornately around the strap of his bag, a dumb figure-eight of excitement.

He puts his phone in his pocket, tugging his t-shirt down, finger combing his hair, and stuffing all his snack wrappers into the shopping bag before stuffing that into the gym bag. Across the aisle, the little girl is gathering up all the small collectible plastic toys while her mother coaches her to tidy up faster.

Out the window, Molly can only see rusty metal tracks and barriers, some scaffolding. The train is crawling along now, with several passengers starting to get impatiently to their feet… and then it’s a crowded train platform, colorful and animated with several people moving around and hauling luggage in all directions. Molly scans the far wall, looking for the yoga elf, but it’s nowhere. Just soda ads. 

 _Did I give the wrong platform number? Am I at the wrong platform?_  He leans as close as he can to the window, trying to peer further ahead without actually letting his cheek touch the glass. That one might be it. It’s some giant poster of an interior something-or-other, that could be it.

The train has finally stopped. The conductor is saying something over the speaker again, but the noise of the passengers and the people outside is drowning it out. Molly hauls his gym bag over his shoulder, double checking that his phone is in his pocket, turning twice and making sure there’s no wrappers or anything else left be-

“It’s a  _snake_ ,” the little girl says as she passes him, pointing to his arm while her mother makes an embarrassed face.

Okay. Nothing. He’s good. Molly takes a breath, waiting for an older human man with rolling luggage to scoot along to the stairs before he hops into the line to file out of the train car. It smells industrial outside, and the air already feels balmy and warmer - it feels like where he got picked up years and years ago. He remembers air like this.

“S’cuse me,” the old human man mutters, struggling to push the handle on his luggage down before he can take it down the stairs.

“Oh, I can get it.” Molly gestures to it.

The man looks a little suspicious. “You’re sure?”

“No problem.” Molly jerks his chin for the man to go ahead without it, and the man hesitates before the pressure of the line presses him on, and he takes the steep metal stairs alone, down to the concrete platform where he immediately turns and waits to see if Molly’s going to try to get away with his valuable enormous case.

 _As if I could run anywhere with this thing,_  Molly thinks to himself, but stifles the expression that wants to creep up onto his face. He presses the handle button in and pushes it down, grabbing the strap and lifting it with his free arm to carry down. It’s not so bad, and the man seems to be a little shy now that Molly’s made good on his offer. “Thank you, young man.”

“No problem.” Molly gives a little wave, already thinking of Caleb again. Up ahead, where he couldn’t see from his train car toward the back, there’s a huge poster for a gym, and that’s - he just has to get there. It seems like the crowd is going in way too many fucking directions for a space where there’s only people disembarking, but Molly only has to shoulder past a couple people before he’s close enough to start looking around. Orange hair. Orange hair. Caleb. Caleb.

“Mollymauk!”

Molly’s heart leaps up. He looks to the left, where he heard it - an enormous half orc woman passes in front of him, blocking his view, but then he’s there,  _Caleb’s there._ He’s standing and waving, wearing a loose t-shirt, skin already lightly tanned and more freckled than Molly has ever seen it. His hair is in messy waves framing his face, looking a very familiar mix of anxious and shyly happy.

Molly launches forward and leaps toward Caleb, making the human take a step back as he holds him under his legs. “H-hey,” Caleb laughs, gently setting Molly down as Molly keeps his arms wrapped around Caleb’s shoulders. He smells the same.

“I missed you,” Molly says into the warmth of his neck, voice cracking a little. Making himself let go, he smiles wider to see Caleb’s tearing up as well. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Caleb says back, ears red. He’s wearing a backpack, Molly notices, and one strap is pulling the collar of his t-shirt to the side. Molly can see some of the new freckles along his collarbones. He’s so in love. “Was your, um, was your trip okay?”

“ _Mow_ ,” something says indignantly.

“Oh!” Caleb says, and straightens up and turns a little, looking over his shoulder. “Did he hear you?”

“ _Mow,_ ” Frumpkin repeats from the transparent carrier backpack, getting on his hind legs and pressing his paws as close to Molly as they can get. Molly coos as he sees the collar with the bow tie. “ _Mowww_.”

“I think he’s yelling at me,” Molly says fondly.

“He missed you too!”

“ _Mowwwwww._ ”

“Let’s get out of here,” Molly says. Seeing Frumpkin out with Caleb has reminded him that Caleb often brings his cat with him to keep him calmer in busier areas, and maybe Frumpkin didn’t come to the train station today just to say hi to Molly as early as possible.

“Okay. Are. Are you hungry?” Caleb turns back around and reaches for Molly’s hand, smiling wider when he takes it.

“Let’s just get to your place, I want to set Frumpkin free, I wanna see your place, I,” Molly laughs. “I wanna hug you more…”

Caleb leads him through the interior of the station, to the closest exit, and to the relative quiet of the street outside. The sun is bright and keeping the air almost heady with humid warmth - there are already palm trees dotted here and there, and Molly smiles at them as they walk past.

“Do you like, um, being here again?” Caleb looks a little unsure, and Molly can understand why.

“It feels fine,” he assures. “It feels like a nice sort of familiar, even though I wasn’t here for long. That I can remember, anyway.”

“There is a lot of food here that I did not know about,” Caleb says, tilting his head toward a street lined with restaurants and outdoor seating. “More Asian food, but also, lots of… science food, and…” He trails off, and when Molly waits patiently for him to find the right word in English, Caleb blushes and laughs. “I missed you.”

Molly squeezes his hand and uses his tail to smack the back of Caleb’s leg affectionately.

“Ach!” Caleb jumps but laughs immediately. “I even missed that.”

“It’s Tiefling for ‘I missed you too’.”

“I have learned a little Infernal, and that is not-”

“No no,  _Tiefling_. It’s like sign language but it’s all tail swats.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yes, please be respectful of my culture.”

“Are you sure Tiefling does not have moving ears also? Because your ears are-” Caleb grins delightedly and lets go of Molly’s hand to tuck a strand of hair behind Molly’s ear. “They are all the way up, like, ‘hello, I am happy’.”

Molly fakes a scowl and tries to flatten his ears down a little. He’s not sure if it works, but Caleb laughs.  The apples of Caleb’s cheeks are slightly tanned from the sun. Molly only has so much self-control. “Hold on.”

“Hm?” Caleb stops when Molly does, and lets himself be guided to the edge of the sidewalk. When Molly tucks in close and hugs him, one public-appropriate kiss to his cheek, Caleb laughs softly and kisses him back. “I missed you so much,” he confesses softly.

“I missed everything. I missed your accent.” Molly laughs, and perks up when Caleb gently takes Molly’s right hand and pulls it up for inspection. “Oh! You haven’t seen it in person yet.”

Caleb’s admiring the snake design with wide, fascinated eyes. “Driving to the convention was worth it,” he says, “it is so beautiful.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad it’s not itching much anymore.” Molly watches Caleb examine him, laughing when Caleb pulls his arm up higher to look at it carefully, looking for any scarring. “I told you, he did a good job!”

“I just want to see for myself!” Caleb protests stubbornly, causing Molly to give a fond roll of his eyes. “It is your first one, and if you want many more, we need to make sure we get someone who can treat your skin properly.”

“He’s normally based out of New Orleans, I don’t think I’ll get an opportunity to see that guy again.”

“But if he is the… the master class guy at tattoo conventions… and you really like his style…” Caleb finally lets him go, turning to get them moving again. “Then we book a long way in advance, and then fly there? Or take a train?”

“All for a tattoo?” Molly asks, already guessing the answer.

“For you, yes.” Caleb shrugs. “Plus, New Orleans is nice, ja?”

“It’s supposed to be great.” Molly looks down at Caleb’s hand that’s fallen hopefully between them, and gives his tail instead. Caleb laughs.

Caleb’s dorm building is more of an apartment complex, with a modern exterior and a sign-in lobby right inside the door. The walls are lined with fliers for various events and competitions, several stapled over each other. An exhausted looking human with fluffy black hair and glasses is on a laptop in the corner.

“ہیلو,” Caleb says across the room to the other human, surprising Molly.

“Hallo,” the man says back, not looking up from the screen but raising his hand a little from where it’s hovering over the keyboard.

As they go up the first flight of stairs, Caleb shrugs at Molly’s questioning glance. “We all learn one or two words of the other’s language,” he explains. “A bunch of students here are from places in Asia, but other places also.”

“That’s so cool,” Molly enthuses. It sounds like the international, multi-cultural experience everyone wants to get out of going to college.

“There is a biochemistry major who is from Yemen, and a tiefling,” Caleb says as they reach a hallway and turn right. “He says my Infernal is better than my Arabic, so I have just been using that…”

They both laugh. “I’m good for  _something_!” Molly says with a joking toss of his hair.

Caleb looks mildly offended. “You are …” He seems to be struggling for the way to say it. “You are very good,” he says finally, as they reach the end of the hall.

“I may have a bit of a complex,” Molly confesses, only fractionally joking. “You’re at, like, a top ten school here, and I’m…”

“‘The best Rosencrantz I have seen in a community theater setting,’” Caleb quotes, suddenly and with unexpected conviction, “'showing an innate understanding of comedic timing that Stoppard would be proud to see.’”

Molly stops and stares at Caleb as the human fiddles with the key to the apartment door. “I mean. I knew you must’ve read those, but.”

“Of course I read it, I read all of zem.” Caleb looks at him stubbornly. “And I was heartbroken when you were the understudy for Puck, and he never got sick. You would have been incredible.”

“Don’t make me cry in a hallway,” Molly mumbles to his feet.

Caleb mutters something under his breath in Sylvan, and the key finally unlocks the door and lets them inside. Molly has seen several pictures of this apartment, but those static images are one thing compared to the panoramic view of it all. Sunlight is shining in through the two windows, warming up the kitchenette and small dining space. The bookshelf is mostly filled with coils of power supplies, miscellaneous extra hardware, and some pantry items. It’s small and very simple, but it’s Caleb’s, and Molly can tell how much that means to the other man as his shoulders relax.

“Home sweet home,” Caleb says, easing the backpack off his shoulders and unzipping the top so Frumpkin can get out at his leisure. (Frumpkin, who is curled up and possibly napping at the bottom of the bag, does not take them up on that option just this second.) “The bathroom is that door, the bedroom is that door.”

“Is there anything else you have to do today?” Molly asks immediately.

“No,” Caleb confirms. “No classes until morning lab tomorrow at half one.”

Molly steps into his space and puts his hands at Caleb’s waist. “Can we…?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Yes,” Caleb says immediately, taking Molly’s hands and leading him backwards to the bedroom door. Bumping it open with his hip, he tugs Molly into a small room with a twin bed - they’ve made do with worse - and Caleb laughs giddily when Molly uses his tail to blindly find the door handle behind him and pull it shut.

Molly checks the sentence structure in his head before he says it:  _I - have - you - missed._ “Ich hab’ dich vermisst,” he says, checking that the curtain on the window is tugged across before stepping into Caleb’s space and embracing him.

Caleb makes a pleased little sound and loops his arms around Molly’s waist, exhaling slowly. “Ich auch."  _Me too_.

Molly adores feeling Caleb relax in his arms, but having him this close is making him equally impatient. "Want you,” he breathes, right before closing his mouth over Caleb’s. It feels soft and perfect, just as he remembered, the little hesitant breath before Caleb licks across Molly’s lips and into his mouth. They try to take it slowly, but they’re young and it feels like it’s been forever. Reconnecting has ignited something in both of them, and Caleb pulls until Molly pushes, tumbling them both onto the bed with Molly on top.

Molly laughs, squirming a moment to get up onto his knees so he can kick his boots off. Caleb doesn’t seem to be having as much luck with his sneakers, muttering  _mist_ under his breath until Molly crawls down and unties them for him, easing them off by the heel and dropping them dramatically one-at-a-time onto the floor. Caleb watches him, eyes wide and pupils already huge, making Molly’s chest tighten until he comes back and starts a new kiss. It goes until they’re breathless again, laughing and holding each other’s faces.

When Molly reaches down and fumbles for the button of Caleb’s jeans, the flush that blooms across the human’s face is just like he remembers.

**

Caleb is still asleep, so Molly spends some time in the little living area. Frumpkin takes his lap almost immediately but will not look at him, in some gesture of continued indignance.

His phone beeps: Yasha. A photo of a huge, cold-looking field with a two-lane road off to the side. It must be North Dakota.

**Me: When are you coming back? We miss you.**

**Yasha (flower emoji): Zu’s birthday isn’t until Thursday. I pack her up and get her out Friday.**

Molly pinches the bridge of his nose. He understands Yasha’s urge to save someone from the awful foster home that she got kicked out of herself, but Gustav’s never met Zuala and having her stay on Moondrop street until they can get an apartment is going to be… almost definitely some tension.

To say nothing of all the questions Molly’s had to field from Beau about the whole thing. Not like he can’t give her answers he doesn’t have.

**Me: Is she definitely still on board?**

He’s pretty sure the controlling foster mom doesn’t let her have a phone or anything that lets her get to the outside world, but he’s pretty sure he’s heard of some emails sent from school library computers.

**Yasha (flower emoji): She definitely wants to get away, she wants my help, I don’t know if she’s still in love with me. That last part’s killing me.**

**Me: Are you still in love with her?**

Silence. Molly frowns at his phone, setting it face-down on the little table and accepting a face-to-cheek smush from Frumpkin.

“I dunno how it’s gonna go,” he mumbles.

How can he distract himself? Snacks. He gathers Frumpkin up and holds him against his chest, quietly tugging each kitchenette cupboard open in turn in search of something appropriately salty and neon-orange. No luck.

Molly double checks he’s got his wallet and that he’s leaving Caleb’s door unlocked so he can get back in, then sneaks out to the common room down the hall. He’s at the vending machine trying to decide between Dorito flavors when a huge, looming figure appears just at the edge of his peripheral vision.

“Hey, you must be Mollymauk.”

Molly turns, feeling his ears flatten back a little at the enormity of the person standing across from him. At least seven feet tall, grey furrish skin, and a shock of pink hair braided back to show off half a shaved head. He’s wearing a loose sleeveless shirt and prayer beads on his wrist. Caleb has mentioned someone like this, and Molly can almost put his finger on him based on the very unique description, but the act of craning his head back this far is putting him on some kind of delay.

Has he ever seen a firbolg outside of movies and the internet? Do all of them have  _ears_ like that?

“I’m sorry,” the man says, voice deep and calming. He’s smiling a little, because of course he knows what a surprise he is to see for the first time. “I’m the RA on this floor. Caduceus Clay. I know your friend Caleb, he’s mentioned you before.” Caduceus holds out an enormous but slender grey hand, and Molly takes it immediately to shake. He’s  _fuzzy_.

“Yeah, I’m Molly.” He smiles a little. “I guess we’re both kind of easy to spot, huh?”

Caduceus smiles back. It’s like the faint warmth of the sun, coming from nearly as high up. “There’s a fair number of tieflings here on the coast, but not a lot of them are lavender. Plus, if I’m being honest, Caleb’s been flipping between walking on air and intense cleaning sprees the last few days, so I figured you were arriving sometime soon.”

Molly can feel his tail curling up. “He’s, um. We haven’t seen each other since he moved out here.”

“I figured.” Caduceus glances around a moment, seeing nobody else is in the area. “He works really hard for a freshman in his first semester. It’s great that he’s got someone coming out to support him.”

That sparks a memory in Molly - he straightens a little, stepping closer and lowering his voice. “You’re the RA of this floor, so you’re -” He swallows. “You’re the one that said he could bring Frumpkin? His cat?”

Caduceus tilts his head ambiguously, taking a step back and slotting his hands into his pockets. “You must be referring to the orange cat?” He asks, cutting Molly off: “It’s just a stray that seems to get in here a lot. Someone must be keeping a window open somewhere.” He winks.

Molly presses his lips together to hold back a grin. “Well, I’m. Glad that stray keeps coming around here, because he’s really good for Caleb. Helps him relax when he gets too stressed.”

“Listen, I’m pre-med. I’m the last person to get in the way of a successful solution to anxiety.” Caduceus reaches a gentle hand out and places it on Molly’s shoulder. “As an RA, I’m obligated to let you know that building policy on guests is a 3-day maximum. But I’m awful at keeping track of calendar dates, you know what I mean? As long as I don’t get any noise complaints or anything, I’m likely to forget you’re even here.”

Molly has decided that he absolutely loves this man. “Like a church mouse,” he promises. Caduceus nods slowly, making his braid bob a little as he turns and continues down the hallway. Molly watches him go, fascinated by the enormous loping stride, before turning his attention (mostly) back to the vending machine.

_Pre-med? What kind of doctor does he want to be? He’d probably be great in the ER, he seems unflappable._

Seventy five cents and one bag of cheesy nacho Doritos later, Molly sneaks back into Caleb’s room and sits at the tiny dining room table. Frumpkin lifts his head from the perfect circle he’d developed on the opposite chair, dropping down onto the floor and giving Molly a slow blink.

“Mow,” Frumpkin says, though, clearly reminding Molly that he is not entirely forgiven yet.

“Don’t wake Caleb up,” Molly chides quietly, around a mouthful of chips. When Frumpkin sits back on his hind legs and stares Molly down, Molly shrugs and leans back in his chair, making room for the cat to jump up and settle in his lap.

“I missed you too, for the record.”

“Mrrr.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Caitercates has made incredibly sweet fanart which you JUST HAVE TO SEE, it is so presh](http://caitercates.tumblr.com/post/183208655015/hi-i-have-100-bribed-ivadeshin-into-writing-a)! <3

Another ten minutes go by, and Molly begins to suspect Caleb may sleep til dinner if something doesn’t happen soon.

“Frump scarf,” Molly says quietly, nosing at Frumpkin’s arm when Frumpkin curls further around his shoulders to look Molly in his eye. “Can you get down for me? Down?” He taps the table a few times until Frumpkin gets to his feet, nimbly jumping down as requested. “You’re such a good kitty.”

As if he understood, Frumpkin trills quietly and leans forward to rub his face against Molly’s horn.

“Okay. Okay. Love you too.” Molly stands up, giving Frumpkin a few last chin scratches before throwing the Doritos bag away and putting his phone in his pocket.

Peeking back into the bedroom, Caleb is absolutely still out cold. Naked on top of the sheets and sprawling out as if trying to claim territory or recapture Molly’s warmth, his mouth is ever so slightly open, red-blond lashes fanned across his cheeks.

Molly shuts the door behind him as quietly as possible and leans against it a moment, taking in the sight. Caleb’s ribs don’t stick out like they used to anymore, but he’s still lean, and his creamy white skin looks delicate and dappled from the sunlight coming in from the window.

Molly’s eyes drift and settle on Caleb’s lap - even soft, he looks big. It’s difficult to think too much about the specifics of trying to fit that inside him someday.

_But you tried it the other way, and he was so uncomfortable you had to stop. So maybe stick with the hands and the mouths?_

Molly drags the heel of his hand across his cheek, willing the embarrassing memory away. He’s only felt that guilty a handful of times in his life, and it was only worse that it was their ‘about to go away’ night that he’d had that stupid idea. And rushed it too much.

Caleb takes a sudden deep breath in, letting out a mumbly sort of half-breath as he turns onto his side. Molly laughs quietly, admiring the view of Caleb’s back and ass a moment before telling himself to get over his mental angst. He shucks his clothes back off, easing back onto the bed and sliding an arm over Caleb.

“Fffm.” Caleb does not completely wake up.

“Hey, cutie.” Molly kisses his shoulder. “It’s like 3.”

Caleb’s hand drifts over Molly’s arm, closing around it and giving it a gentle squeeze. “ _Was?_  Oh!” Caleb looks over his shoulder with a dopey smile. Molly grins back. “Molly.”

“Caaay-leb.” Molly pretends to chomp down on Caleb’s shoulder, letting his teeth show.

“Do not eat me,” Caleb protests half-heartedly, awake enough now to play along with their usual game.

“I must, I must eat you,” Molly says around a delicate mouthful of shoulder. He gives it a brief nibble.

“The pain…” Caleb gives a convincing, if dramatic, wince as he pretends to try to pull away. “Everysing they said about tieflings was true.”

“We eats you.” Molly lets go to give the nibbled spot two quick kisses. “Can we go do something?”

Caleb wiggles a little bit away, rolling onto his other side so he can face Molly and continue to smile dopily at him. “Yes. In a minute or two? Where would you like to go, or do.”

“I had a vending machine snack, but maybe a coffee place? Somewhere where we can sit outside?”

Caleb is taking Molly’s right hand in his, gazing studiously at the new tattoo. “Almost all the places have seats outside.” He giggles as Molly bends his wrist back and forth, making the snake move toward him and up toward his face. “Oh!”

“What’s ‘snake’ in German?” Molly asks, folding his hand so the snake head on the back of his hand can give Caleb a brief smooch on the cheek.

Caleb makes a face, taking a little too long to answer: “Natter.”

“Natter,” Molly echoes, curious. “Did you really forget?”

“No, I just have never gotten a kiss from one before.”

“It’s a very kissy snake.” Molly uses his hand to give two more quick kisses. Kiss is 'Kuss’, Molly remembers… “Natter Kuss!”

“Natter Kuss,” Caleb agrees, grinning again. “Hallo, Natter, hold still.” Molly holds his hand still. Caleb gives it a light peck.

“It’s blushing!”

“Is it?”

“It likes you.”

“Well, let me buy it some coffee.” Caleb sits up and runs his fingers through his hair a few times. “It’s always warm here. Do you want iced coffee?”

That sounds really good. “Sure.” He gets up, catching Caleb’s eye as he stretches and bends over to pick his boxers and jeans back.

“Where do you think you will have another one?” Caleb asks, picking his clothes off the floor.

“Another- oh, tattoo?”

“Ja.”

Molly shrugs. “There’s a bunch I’ve thought about but I don’t know what order… I think a garden-y flower thing on my shoulder next.”

“Like, the snake is coming out of it?”

“Yeah.” Molly smiles and traces his right shoulder with his left hand. “What do you think?”

Caleb shrugs as he pulls his jeans back on. “Whenever you talk about it, you get so happy. You like this one so much. I think, whatever you pick will be beautiful, so I do not… I do not care what it is exactly.” Caleb’s looking at him, probably to make sure the ‘I don’t care’ isn’t taken the wrong way. Molly knows that look.

“Even if it’s five more tattoos?” Molly half-jokes. “And more skirts, too?”

Caleb gives him a confused look. “Did you stop wearing them?”

“No, I.” Molly shrugs and feels a little embarassed. “I just didn’t really pack any for  _here_.”

“It is hot,” Caleb says, gesturing to the window as soon as his arm is all the way through the sleeve of his t-shirt. “And, and everyone here is very… not-stuck-up.”

Molly gathers up some courage and says it: “Yeah, but this is like. Your town. If you introduce me to your friends, it’ll be as your boyfriend, and I don’t. Wanna make you feel weird.”

“Because you wear…?” Caleb lets go of his shoe and looks at the floor for what feels like a full minute, composing another sentence. Molly waits. “Your skin is very beautiful without tattoos, and also with tattoos. Your clothes are very beautiful when they are pants, and also when they are dresses or skirts. I am very proud. To be with you. Either way. And when you have tattoos and skirts, you are more happy, and so. That one is better.” He looks up, a mixture of serious and hesitant.

“That made sense,” Molly reassures, through a slightly tight throat.

“Okay, good.” Caleb looks down to his shoe again, then back up to Molly’s face. “Are you okay?”

Molly nods and sits down on the bed to pull his boots back on too.

“Are you - were you worried?” Caleb pokes his leg to get his attention.

“Only a  _little_ ,” Molly says, laughing and rubbing his nose. “I just. This part of your life is so important to you and you’re working really hard, I don’t want to mess it up.”

“You could not,” Caleb says. “My professors, the companies I am freelancing for, none of them would mind, and if they did I would manage without them.”

“And your classmates?”

“I have mentioned you a little. Most of them are just interested to meet you. I showed a few the video of you in the high school  _Cabaret_ and they said you were a good singer.” Caleb smiles at him. “I am not pretending to be straight or something, here.”

 _I still haven’t met your parents, and you bought them a condo like ten miles from here,_  Molly thinks but doesn’t say. “I’m worrying over nothing.”

“You are. You - Natter, please, come here.” Caleb holds out his hand mock-seriously, and Molly laughs and puts his right hand in Caleb’s. Holding it up to his face, Caleb pretends to talk to the snake. “Herr Natter. Please reassure Molly that I have gotten over being gay and I am okay with it now.”

“ _Ssssssstimmt,_ ” Molly agrees, pretending to be the snake. Caleb laughs immediately, which helps Molly relax further.

“The snake knows German! What a good snake.”

“ _Aber… esss… isssst… ssschlecht._ ” Molly beams as Caleb laughs louder, leaving a loud smacking kiss on the snake’s head before flinching back.

“Wait, is that too hard? Because it is new?”

“Kisses are okay,” Molly reassures.

“Okay. Let me buy you coffee.”

**

Caleb’s apartment is more or less across from campus, and it’s only a block or two of white stucco houses before they’re walking past little shops and diners Molly didn’t see on the way over. Caleb seems to be making a point of holding his hand, squeezing it as they wait for the street light to change.

“I’m not worried anymore,” Molly says under his breath, grinning a little.

“Too bad, I already have it.” Caleb gives him a mock-stubborn glare and squeezes tighter.

“Do you ever go out here with classmates?”

“Sometimes, yes.” Caleb gestures ahead. “Everyone here is used to students, so they are very friendly to study groups and things. Sometimes we get a very long table and bring our laptops and collaborate for a few hours. Group projects.”

“But you do buy something,” Molly prompts.

“Yes, and we tip a lot, also.” Caleb sticks his tongue out. “I have become a very good American, you do not need to worry.”

“Mister Weiss!”

Caleb’s head whips around, and Molly follows suit to look at an older elf with white hair and tanned skin. From the way Caleb’s just straightened up, Molly would guess this has to be someone important.

“Dr. Errenis!” Caleb sounds surprised. “H-hello, it is nice to see you.”

Dr. Errenis looks to Molly, evaluating a moment before speaking directly to him. “Mr. Weiss has not been with us long, but I see he’s already aware of my reputation for staying on campus.”

“It’s a nice day for it, though.” Molly smiles and gestures to the general weather. Errenis looks up and around, as if beginning to consider it.

“Yes, we do have a lot of those.”

Caleb takes a breath. “Sir, this is my, my boyfriend, Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

Molly makes himself hold his hand out like an adult. “Nice to meet you.” He’s not shocked when the hand is slightly cool. Elves seem to keep even cooler internal temperatures than humans do.

“And you, Mr. Tealeaf.” The man seems to have had no particular reaction to the ‘b’ word. “I assume you are HSS?”

_What does that mean?_

“He actually doesn’t go here,” Caleb interjects.

“Ah.” The older elf tilts his head to the side, evaluating Molly a moment. “Well, we can’t blame him for that. Our humanities and social studies courses are as limited as one would expect.”

“What class do you teach?” Molly thinks it’s a reasonable question, until he sees the elf’s golden eyes narrow slightly.

“Several,” he says, maybe implying that asking it in singular was a little ridiculous for someone like him. “Mr. Weiss has the honor of being the only freshman taking one of my 400 level courses.”

Molly switches gears from being embarrassed about himself to being proud of Caleb. “Yeah, he’s always been a little brilliant.”

Caleb looks suitably shy. “Dr. Errenis is an excellent professor,” he says in a half-mumble.

“Well, you’re one of the few students to display practical knowledge in… the field, so I wanted to respond in person, since the opportunity presented itself, to the email you sent last week.” He fixes Caleb with a level stare. “I will take on the role of being your advisor. Please understand that it is predicated on your continued performance both in and out of school.”

Caleb’s brows lift slightly. “Out… of school?”

“I have a colleague who is a senior developer for one of the projects you have been hired onto as a freelance analyst. You have the unique position of possibly gaining or  _losing_ potential standing with me depending on your quality of work on said project.” The man’s lips  _almost_  smile. “So I trust you will continue your Herculean efforts both in and out of academia.”

“Y-yes. Sir.” Caleb swallows as the old elf nods and walks away, giving a brief tilt of the head to Molly as he passes them. They watch as he practically floats down the warm Pasadena street, turning into a used book store.

“What’s the word?” Molly says under his breath. “ _Unheimlich._ ”

“A little scary, yes,” Caleb agrees softly. He hasn’t looked away from the last place he saw the elf, right at the shop’s doorway. “But. I think… I just… made one of the most powerful allies on ze entire campus.”


	5. Chapter 5

"So where are you right now, on the feels and function scales?"

Caleb presses his lips together, looking up at the chalk board list of beverage options. "Function, nine," he says after a moment. "Or maybe eight. Um, on feels... pretty high? Seven? Eight?"

Molly nods and tightens the line a little as a woman with a stroller comes in to the shop behind them. "Okay. What's the biggest feel?"

 

"Surprise." Caleb looks over and smiles as Molly rests his chin on Caleb's shoulder. "I am serious, I was not expecting to hear back on that email for a month or so..."

That seems like forever, even for an older person. "Is he rude or just busy?"

"Very busy." Caleb's voice is emphatic. "He is doing... he is doing many things at once, always. Oh! I told you about him before. He is the one with the goblin assistant."

Molly remembers instantly - Caleb was afraid of some shadowy, all-powerful figure on campus until he heard a story about his goblin employee being discriminated against by campus staff. Said shadowy figure apparently wrote a multi-page article about academic racism that was, as Caleb explained it, the most scathing subtweet possible. Someone had to resign over it. "He's the Woke Shadow!"

"Ja!" Caleb laughs. "I forgot we named him that."

"So what can he do for you?"

"He can help me get into courses that are hard to get into, or entire programs, sign off on independent study... or get me internships or connections to places... he is very respected."

Molly considers this. "Do you need internships if you already make tons of money on your own merit?” 

"Not unpaid internships. Like, a real paid job at a tech company, where afterward, they hire you on." Caleb rubs his nose and points up to the board. "We are next."

"Fuck, I haven't been reading the thing." Molly straightens up and moves next to Caleb. "Order for me?"

Caleb blushes a little, which makes Molly's tail curl. "Yes, okay."

**

They sit outside, with their backs to the large plate glass window so they can look out on the road. Several cars have their hoods down, which makes the people watching much easier. Molly sips his iced coffee and leans his shoulder against Caleb, who leans back.

"I forgot how nice it is to just. Be near." Caleb smiles at his lap.

Molly tilts his head just so, until the side of his right horn ruffles Caleb's hair. "I'm gonna do it," he teases. 

"Nein," Caleb says with a pout, leaning away from the cowlick in progress.

"It's tiefling culture. You have to let me do it."

"I no longer believe in cultural relativism."

"Your school needs more humanities classes."

Caleb barks out a laugh. "It does, actually." He looks around a few moments, ensuring the coast is clear. "Some of my classmates could really use them. I love computers, the internet, but if you only live in there... you do not understand the real world."

"Met some other freshman who don't remember what trees look like?" 

"Not just freshman," Caleb says, eyebrows lifting. "People about to graduate. They are, they are brilliant with big data platforms, or search queries, but they do not know how to talk to regular people! They think their field is the only thing that matters. If you cannot do this or that, then you are useless."

Molly scrunches his nose. "Even when you were shy, you didn't think like that."

Caleb puts his cup down on the metal table to gesticulate. "They barely even agree that other hard sciences - Caduceus! My RA, he is a great example. He is probably going to end up in, the, what is the word? In hospital, you go straight in because you are dying-"

"Emergency room?" Molly supplies. Caleb snaps.

"Yes. I always forget, it is so literal. Yes. The hospital emergency room people, they are begging him to do more... student hour things... there. He is not just smart, he is very _calm_ , he does not panic when things are very bad, and these things together let him do very important things! Last month, a car crash on the..." Caleb points west. "I forget the road, it does not matter. Six cars with little injuries, but one, one _turned_."

"Flipped?"

"Yes," Caleb nods and gestures something flipping several times. "A man's arm was..." Caleb makes his own dangle limply. "It was almost not attached anymore? Caduceus does the sewing, the nerves, I do not understand it all..."

"Jesus."

"Yes! For three straight hours he must do this, he cannot stop! The real doctors had other calls! And then he goes out and sits with the, the wife! For another hour! Talking to her until she is not crying!" 

Four hours. Molly can't imagine. "Are all firbolgs, like, floppy-eared angels?" 

" _Ich weiss_ _nicht._ " Caleb shrugs helplessly. "But I only know because I saw him late at night and said, 'You look tired, are you okay,' and he told me the story, and said, he is so, so happy! Because he thinks the man's arm will be okay, and he got to meet the wife, who was very nice." Caleb gesticulates again. "And this man cannot code, so he is useless?"

"I hear Caleb Yelling," someone in front of them says, making them both jump. It's a half-elf in jogging gear, maybe early twenties, with shoulder length blond hair.

"You fucking scared me," Caleb laughs. He clearly recognizes them - that makes sense, considering this person knows Caleb's name. "Oh! Bryce! This is Mollymauk Tealeaf, my boyfriend." Caleb turns to Molly and smiles. "Molly, this is Bryce, they, they are in technical security also."

"I've heard a lot about you," Bryce says, extending a hand. They - they? don't seem to be the least bit surprised by how Molly looks, which is somewhat unusual. Molly grins and shakes their hand. "I heard your boyfriend yelling across the road and knew it was him."

"He feels very strongly about some things," Molly says with mock seriousness, making Bryce laugh.

"I was telling Molly about the turned car, the flipped car," Caleb says defensively.

"Oh! On the 210?" Bryce sucks in some air through their teeth. "Yeah, that took out the power for a couple blocks."

"I meant about Caduceus," Caleb says. "He sewed the man's arm back on, it was almost off."

"JESUS. They let you do that if you're still in med school?"

"All the other doctors were busy. And he did it!" Caleb gestures more.

Bryce leans over to Molly. "Why are we mad about this?" they stage whisper.

"Because some technical people don't appreciate genius outside of their own fields and this is clearly an example of someone talented," Molly rehashes.

"Ah."

"Bryce, you are not like this. I was not talking about you."

 

Bryce waves their hand dismissively. "I know, I know." They look to Molly again. "Hey, I like your tattoo."

"Thanks!" Molly beams and holds his arm up. "It's fresh." He holds still for the usual no-touch inspection, and something clicks in his head; he turns to Caleb. "Can you tell them about the thing that just happened?"

" _Was?_ Oh!" Caleb looks to Bryce. "Dr. Errenis was outside!"

"That's _not_ the part I meant," Molly admonishes.

"That's pretty big news," Bryce argues. 

"Dr. Errenis was outside and agreed to be my advisor." 

Bryce's eyes widen. "He _what?_ "

"He did," Molly beams.

"He _didn't!_ "

"I was there," Molly singsongs. 

Bryce throws their arms up. "Has Caleb explained this guy? He's a kingmaker. He worked on the original Google algorithm shit. He spent six years on a government project that nobody knows anything about."

"He punched you in the face once and it was awesome," Molly finishes.

Bryce turns to Caleb. "I like him," they say, pointing to Molly. "Keep him."

Caleb rubs at his eyebrow. "For as long as he will tolerate me," he promises. "But. Seriously. Dr. Errenis knows someone on my current freelance job, so he will be paying attention to that work also. Pressure."

"Not your favorite," Bryce allows.

"But he'll do great," Molly interjects. "And even if Dr. Errenis changes his mind tomorrow and won't be Caleb’s advisor, Caleb will still be amazing and go wherever he wants."

"Caleb, does this guy have a sibling?"

"Lots." Caleb's brows knit together. "Sort of."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is lifeblood, lifeblood is word count


	6. Chapter 6

“So Yasha had a different foster family  _before_ she came to your foster family,” Bryce summarizes, over their second biscotti.

Molly nods around a mouthful of cookie.

“And she’s going back to get her foster sister?”

Molly squints and seesaws his hand. “Another girl who had the same foster mom. It wasn’t really… a family, over there.”

“The Moondrops are very unique, I think,” Caleb adds. “It seems like the second you step in there, you are family for life, ja?”

“Ja,” Molly agrees. “A lot of other homes, it’s very revolving-doors, conflicting personalities, blah blah, not necessarily close ties. Sometimes! Not always. Definitely not with this old hag they were stuck with.”

“So your sister’s going to kind of kidnap her… not-sister.” Bryce quirks a brow.

“No no, no kidnapping, the not-sister is turning 18, and she’s been fucked over and hasn’t been able to graduate or get any money together or even have a phone, so she’s-”

“She’s hamstrung,” Bryce summarizes.

“Yeah.”

“In North Dakota.”

“ _Yeah_.”

“Gotcha, gotcha, needs help to escape and not end up on the streets.” Bryce’s expression changes quickly, and Molly turns to see what look Caleb gave them, but it’s already gone. “Is that - ? Sorry?”

Molly gently smacks Caleb. “You don’t have to stop people from mentioning homelessness.” Caleb gives a slightly chastised frown, and Molly pats his thigh with his tail to reassure him.

Bryce tilts their head. “Sore spot?”

Molly decides the shorter version is better. “I was on the streets for a little while, and some ladies found me and took me in, and when some cops came through they were like ‘hmm, none of you ladies are very purple, who does this little bastard belong to.’ And then I went into the system, and got shipped over to the Moondrops.”

“Oh.” Bryce blinks. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t go to North Dakota, apparently.”

Molly nods and smiles. Very slowly, he feels Caleb’s hand rest over his tail, not-quite squeezing. He fights back a happy blush. “My foster dad is great, very woke, I still live there and pay a little rent while I save up to figure out where I want to settle.”

“Out here, do you think?” Bryce gestures with the remaining nub of their biscotti to the general surroundings. “Caleb showed me that Cabaret clip,”

“Say that three times fast,” Molly interjects to demand.

“No, fuck you.” Bryce is clearly a darling person and Molly already likes them. “I saw the clip, and I don’t know shit about shit but it seems like you can sing and dance and do a mean Berlin accent, no idea where you studied  _that_ ,” Caleb laughs and hides his face. “So you could… right? I mean, this isn’t quite LA, but we’re close, we’ve got shit going on.” They look uncertainly toward Caleb, who, to Molly’s surprise, has taken out his phone.

“There are several smaller companies which are poorly reviewed.” Caleb hesitates as Molly leans over to look at his screen, but continues tapping through - there’s a bookmark list? Of local companies and troupes? “The one in Burbank is having… tests… recitals is the wrong word, the other thing… but they are only interested in modern American plays, and Molly does not like those much…”

Molly’s throat tightens a little. “You’ve been looking at…?”

Bryce hums amusedly, leaning back in their patio chair and grinning at Caleb.

“ _Wie sagt man_  tests, recitals,” Caleb mumbles instead of answering.

“Auditions,” Molly provides, not letting himself be deterred. “Have you been shopping around for me?”

“Just in case, I did not know if… if you liked staying in Exandria I was not going to… ask you, 'please move here’….”

Molly shouldn’t be shocked, but Caleb hasn’t said a single word about this, and as he looks through the tabs he’s seeing a ton of places with little notes in German in parentheses at the end of every link. “Honey.”

“I gotta jog,” Bryce says, getting up and stuffing their phone and wallet back into their pockets. “I came out here to jog, I sat down on my ass and ate snacks instead. Molly, I’ll maybe see you later? Good to meet you.”

“You too,” Molly says, pulling his eyes away from the screen to give a proper look and wave. “Really cool to meet you.”

Molly watches them for a few moments, down the sidewalk and to the light, and then back to Caleb. “You want me to move out here?” His voice is small.

“Of course I do,” Caleb says. His cheeks are burning red as he scrolls through a website with pictures of a dimly lit stage. “I, I need to get a strong degree, but there are no good places back home, and. If I had gone to MIT, that is sort of close to New York, but the drive is very long and bad, so, this, this is closer to LA, and it-”

“ _Caleb_?”

“I did not want to put pressure on, on you, when I was picking a school. Maybe you would change your mind and not want to act in, I did not know if you would still want that or something else, and either school was fine for me, they offered full rides and I,”

“You’ve been thinking about this since you _started applying to colleges_?”

“Before,” Caleb corrects flatly, frowning a little. “About two months after we went to the date on the roof.”

Molly tucks in closer and kisses his cheek, hiding the pricks of tears in his eyes.

“I just,” Caleb says, and begins a phrase in German that Molly can’t pick up. It’s gone as fast as it came. From here, Molly can see and hear him swallow. “I wanted. To make choices where you could be happy also, if we were still. Together. And if you wanted to come, you would be happy in the new place.”

“I love you,” Molly says to his cheek.

“I love you too.” Caleb puts his phone down on the table and resumes the gentle squeeze on his tail. “There are two options I think are good. One is in LA but the drive is not awful. An hour or so.”

“I’m eighteen. I’m a small town fish. You might be thinking a little big.”

“You are beautiful and you glow on stage.”

“…you practiced that.”

“Because it is true.” Caleb strokes his thumb along Molly’s tail. Molly wraps the end of it around his wrist. “I do, I am always scared of, making you feel rushed. Or like you must come too. But if you ever… talked about it, or said you wanted to be here also, I wanted to show you that you could do it.” He hiccups. Christ, he’s crying too. “And ze, ze down payment for my parents’ house set me back a lot, but I always have enough to pay for both of us whenever, if, if you ever decide to move here, and,”

“I  _love_ you,” Molly insists again.

Caleb nods back and squirms a little, blinking. “Can we.” He makes a noise like he’s a little frustrated with himself. “ _Können wir nach Hause gehen._ ”

“Yeah,” Molly says immediately, straightening. “Yeah, let’s go.” He didn’t realize until just now that getting this emotional in public is probably making Caleb a little overwhelmed. “I’m sorry, honey.  _Tut mir Leid._ ”

“No, no.” Caleb waves it away as they get up and pocket their things. “I just, you know.”

“You’re doing great,” Molly reassures.

They throw out their trash. Molly makes sure they hold hands on the way back, and when they reach the common area on the main level, Caduceus is there with a laptop. Molly waves with his tail, and Caduceus smiles broadly and waves back.

“I met him when I was getting snacks,” Molly explains as they take the stairs.

“Do not tell him about. My Caleb Yells. Please.”

“Your fanboy status is safe with me.”

They get to the door, and Molly waits until they’re inside and locked tight before he takes Caleb’s phone and wallet out of his pocket.

“Huh?”

“Hold on,” Molly assures him. Once he’s gotten his own out too, he bends down a little, picking Caleb up bridal-style and carrying him to the bedroom door. “Shit.” It’s closed. “Okay, I need you to get that for me.”

Caleb is beginning a laughing fit. "You cannot – wis your tail?”

“You know what? Fuck you, I can.” Molly fake-huffs and turns in place, fumbling around with his tail until the knob turns and he can push it open. He can’t carry Caleb for much longer, but damn if he’ll let that show. “There. Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too,” Caleb says fondly, as if Molly just said 'I love you’ again.

Molly gently dumps him on the bed and begins kicking off his shoes. Per the rules, Caleb stays where he’s been put.

“I have a thing I wanna say,” Molly reports, and Caleb nods. Molly crawls onto the bed, covering Caleb, lowering down and nuzzling his way into as much contact as possible. For the first couple seconds, Molly is silent, and his patience is rewarded as he starts to feel Caleb relax underneath him. They haven’t needed to do this for a while. Needed? Molly always guesses. “When you have stuff like that you’re thinking about, please tell me.”

Caleb makes a low hum and begins to wriggle, getting more comfortable, and then kicking his own shoes off while keeping Molly on top of him. “Okay, but. Vague.”

“Things about us, about plans, about feelings, I don’t know, that’s still vague.” Molly cards his fingers into Caleb’s hair. He smells so good. His skin is still warm from the sun and it’s hard not to think about tabling this conversation for something else. “I think when you keep it to yourself you get more and more scared that you’re keeping it to yourself because it’s  _definitely_ something I wouldn’t like, not  _maybe_ something I wouldn’t like.”

Caleb wraps his legs around Molly’s waist and buries his face in his t-shirt. “That makes sense,” he admits into the fabric. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“So if it’s hurting you, say it,” Molly summarizes.

“Okay.” Caleb huffs out a short breath. “I have,” he hesitates. Molly waits a few seconds, then longer, but it doesn’t feel like Caleb’s composing something like he often is.

“You have?” Molly prompts. “You have a thing?” 

“I don’t know,” Caleb hedges.

Molly thinks about it, letting his tail wrap around Caleb’s ankles where they link at the small of his back. “ _Du… hast… eine… Dinge_.”

Caleb laughs, breath ghosting through Molly’s shirt to his chest.

“Was that right?” Molly asks.

“I want you to try to fuck me again,” Caleb says all at once.

Molly feels his heart stop for a moment. 


	7. Chapter 7

“I’ve been practicing,” Caleb adds, and then immediately makes the face that means he regrets whatever he just said.

“You - sorry, say the whole - you want -” Molly licks his lips and realizes his tail has bent up so far it’s nearly tickling the nape of his own neck. He tries to take a long breath. “I’m, okay, you’ve been - what does that mean?”

Caleb looks more than a little overwhelmed, so Molly tucks his head down until his nose is pressed against Caleb’s collarbone and waits. “It’s… I bought it online, it is not exactly like yours, they did not-” A soft gust of laughter. “-have your color, but, they had the usual… dark red…”

A dildo? A  _tiefling_ dildo?

“Are you upset?”

Molly jumps a little, pulled out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

“Y-you haven’t said anysing.” Caleb sounds anxious.

“Sorry. Right.” Molly tries to play it cool. “So you’ve. Been fucking yourself with… a ridged… dildo?”

Very quietly: “Uh-huh.”

“Oh.”

“Please say you aren’t mad, Mollymauk.”

“I don’t know why I would ever be mad about this.”

“But your voice is, weird? And I do not know for sure what is happening.”

Molly swallows, staring at the collar of Caleb’s t-shirt. “I’m really fucking hard for how tight these jeans are. My boyfriend’s been fucking himself with something that feels like my cock.”

“Oh.” Caleb sounds somewhat relieved. Molly is trying to piece this together in his mind: dark red ridges, maybe a slightly more pointed head like his, pushing into Caleb’s body. Does he lie on his back? His side? Up on his knees? Does he come from just doing that or does he also- “So, will you? Do you want to?”

“Can I see it?”

“ _Was?”_

“I mean, can you show me-” Something flicks on in Molly’s mind and he pulls back, staring Caleb in the eyes. “Would - would you do it in front of me?”

Caleb’s eyes widen as his face burns up into a flush. “Wh- nein!”

“Sorry sorry sorry sorry so-”

“Maybe. Would you - I guess you would like it, or else you wouldn’t ask.”

Molly is positive he would  _absolutely love it._

“I mean, I think I am a little awkward, I don’t know. It is probably not as hot as you are thinking.” Caleb looks away.

“You don’t have to,” Molly reassures, feeling his own face heating as he continues, helpless, to think about it. Caleb’s legs bent up as he fumbles with the base of it, pushing it in a little deeper and gasping-

“If you want to see it, it’s just,” Caleb squirms and reaches toward the nightstand, and Molly sits up and rolls over to let him move further. This is like a dream. A really smutty wonderful dream. “It is smaller zan you, I sink, they had very big sizes but also regular ones, and I… I was trying to get myself not so freaked out, so-”

“Smaller makes sense.” Molly is definitely nodding too many times. He cannot physically stop himself from nodding this much. And then Caleb has opened the little drawer on the nightstand and pulled out something wrapped in a wash cloth, and it’s - it’s a small bottle of lube, which falls out almost immediately onto the sheets, and then Caleb also unwraps a five inch long, dark red ridged dildo. Molly can’t look away from it. 

Except… Caleb is giggling? Molly checks his face, and Caleb looks quietly amused, most of the panic gone but the blush still there - he’s looking at something over Molly’s shoulder, and he realizes it must be his tail. Now that he pays attention, it’s brushing against the ends of his hair. “I guess you like it,” Caleb says around a shy smile.

“Y-yeah,” Molly agrees. “I mean. Do  _you_  like it? When you practice, it’s - it’s better than when we tried…?”

“I took a really long time the first time,” Caleb says, “and like, way too much lubricant, but I… it does not hurt now, it is kind of nice.” He’s about to say something else, and then stops, blushing further. Molly feels the reality click in his head like a weight hitting the floor.

“You like it when… you imagine it’s me?”

“Why else would I…” Caleb laughs. “I mean, I do not imagine some  _other_  tiefling.”

Molly stares at it a little while longer. Imagining it disappearing into Caleb’s body. Imagining Caleb imagining that it’s him. He can feel the edge of his tale spade brushing his neck.

“I did not realize you would react like this.”

“It’s  _really hot_ ,” Molly breathes.

Caleb is still, Molly realizes, checking his tail. Maybe that dead giveaway is actually making him a little more self-assured. “Well, if, maybe if I show you, that it is okay now, and you would not hurt me, we can try again? Together?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Molly agrees. “Yeah, sure, if you- are you sure?”

“I have been thinking about it a lot. Yes, I would…” Caleb stops to set it all down on the sheets and pull his shirt off, and he’s halfway done throwing it across the room into the hamper when Molly can’t help it, bending forward and capturing Caleb’s mouth in a kiss. “Mmmm.”

“ _Mmmm_ ,” Molly agrees with enthusiasm, breaking away just long enough to wrestle his own shirt off and get some skin-on-skin contact. Caleb feels less cool than usual, aroused too, and after a few moments, Caleb is relaxed against him, smiling, hands on his ass and gripping.

“I cannot do much with you on top of me,” he jokes quietly.

“Gotta kiss you more,” Molly half-jokes, dotting little ones down Caleb’s neck and to his shoulder. “More kisses first.” When Caleb laughs and squeezes his ass, Molly moans against the bare skin, fumbling down to his fly unzipping to give himself a little more room. Caleb’s fingers slide under the denim and his boxer briefs, squeezing again, and - Molly didn’t really know that could feel so nice, and he’s been  _trying_  not to think about this two-week visit as a fourteen day sex fest with his hot boyfriend, but maybe, maybe they can swing it, or at least most of the fourteen days? He sucks a gentle bite into Caleb’s shoulder, wanting to kindle some desperation.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Caleb whines. Molly tilts his head gently, nuzzling the side of his horn against Caleb’s cheek as he lets go and licks it better. When he lets go and crawls backwards, he’s surprised how quickly Caleb moves to get out of the last of his clothes, how hard he already is. Molly’s mouth waters a little as he watches Caleb hesitate, breathing hard, before diving back to the night stand and pulling out a towel that he arranges underneath his hips. “You’ll- you’ll tell me if I look silly?”

“You are  _not_  going to look silly,” Molly reassures with wide eyes.

“You say zat now,” Caleb mumbles. But for the hot red flush on his face, Molly’s also astonished and overjoyed to see that there’s a little  _smile_ curling at his lips, too. 

Molly’s always vocal about his affections, but these moments when his excitement and anticipation threaten to get the best of him - Caleb seems to like those best. Probably because they’re impossible to fake. “If, if you change your mind or want to do something different tonight, just say so,” Molly adds. And it’s good he gets that statement in when he does, because then Caleb is spreading his knees apart, fumbling the cap of the lubricant open, and the most intelligent thing Molly can manage is to scoot down to the end of the bed so he can see better.

Caleb’s worrying at his lower lip as he squeezes a large dollop of clear fluid onto his fingertips, immediately clicking the bottle shut and reaching down to start pressing it against his opening. Molly swallows hard. Where Caleb’s face and shoulders and arms are dotted with new freckles, even some on his shins, this part of him is exactly as Molly has known it, smooth and pinkish-white, with a dusting of red-blond hairs. Caleb’s slim thighs flex as he starts to reach down as much as he can, curling his fingers in, eyes shutting.

“ _Mist_ ,” Caleb mutters.

“You’re really beautiful,” Molly says, without realizing he was about to say anything.

Caleb tucks his chin in and laughs a little, embarrassed, but he seems to relax a little. He reaches down with his free hand, stroking himself once before cupping his sac and holding it up and out of the way. Molly can see better now as Caleb presses in with two fingers, as far as he can reach, some strain around his closed eyes but mouth slowly opening, breaths deep and even.

Molly doesn’t know how to deal with this. He feels like he’s so hard there’s no blood left for his brain. Without looking away, he gets up on his knees, slowly enough not to jostle the bed, easing his jeans and underwear off. Caleb is easing his fingers back and forth now, gently, and when he plants his ankles into the mattress to rock back and forth on them a little, Molly has to stop himself from getting involved, from offering to do something - this is a delicate place, Caleb’s shy and they haven’t had any luck together doing this yet, and honestly, the act of doing this  _in front of Molly_  is its own unexpected gem, seeing Caleb let out an impatient little gust of air as his hair falls in front of his eyes, the blush rise and expand across his chest. His cock is completely erect, bouncing lewdly as Caleb squirms his hips one way, then the other, trying to get more of some angle, some feeling.

“Um,” Caleb says, and Molly sits up at attention, ears pricked. “Could you… maybe, pass me…”

“Y-yeah,” Molly says. His voice has gotten really husky in the last minute or two. He reaches for the dildo in the folds of the sheets, picking it up and spending a second to really look at it. Its ridges are different from his, but the intention is there, and he never knew how something like that would feel. When he looks up again, Caleb’s opened his eyes and is grinning awkwardly at him through a bit of lust-haze.

“You want… to keep it for yourself, maybe?”

“No, no, I-” Molly begins to hold it out but stops, reaching for the lube too. “Do you want me to- ?” Caleb nods, so Molly grabs the bottle, using his thumb to pop it open and start tilting some lube onto the head of the dildo. What gets him distracted is that Caleb  _resumes fucking himself with his fingers_ , the slow deep back-and-forth that gets him mesmerized instantly. When Caleb lifts a foot to nudge Molly’s leg, Molly doesn’t know how long he’s been staring but there’s definitely enough lube on this thing now. “Sorry.”

Caleb licks his lips and pulls his fingers out, taking the dildo and smearing the lubricant around a little more evenly before angling it toward himself. “Zis part is… more difficult…” The dark amber, slightly narrowed head doesn’t look like it will  _fit_  where Caleb’s fingers just were. Molly digs his fingers into the bed sheets, watching attentively, curling his tail back downward so it drags down between his shoulder blades and makes him shiver.

Caleb shuts his eyes and fumbles his grip on the base of the dildo, planting his feet again and taking a deep breath. Presses in, making a quiet grunt as it begins to breach him. Molly feels his own cock twitch as Caleb gets the first inch in, slowly, but it seems to become easier after that. Caleb’s panting, out of sync now, long fingers gripping the base tightly and pushing it halfway into himself with a stifled gasp.

Molly can’t help it. “Are you okay, baby?”

Caleb nods.

“Is it good?”

Caleb doesn’t answer. He tilts his head to the side, hair mussed on the pillow as he arches his back up, chewing at his lip in earnest now as he eases it out a little, then back in, in further. He looks so  _tight_ , erection flagging a little from the discomfort, and Molly’s arousal is mixed with some worry until Caleb gets it most of the way in, holding it there for a few moments as he relaxes around it.

Molly waits, desperate not to ruin the moment or whatever concentration Caleb has right now. Slowly, Caleb starts a rhythm, hips tilting back and hand moving as if of its own accord, slow and steady. It’s less than a minute before Caleb doesn’t look like he’s having to put effort into letting it in, into  _taking it_. Instead he’s thrusting in further every time now, getting more of it, chin up and the long, pale column of his neck showing every little gasp and swallow. Molly’s only so patient and grabs his own erection, stroking it in time with what Caleb is doing, worrying already that he isn’t going to last.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Caleb says, bringing his free hand up to wipe the hair off his now-sweaty forehead. “Molly, M-Molly,”

“What do you want, honey, anything.” Molly tips forward until his cheek and horn brush roughly against the nearest part of Caleb - his knee. He’s panting too, now, he realizes. He was dry when he started stroking himself off, but there’s some precome now, making his hand glide, getting him close -

“Will you, please.” Caleb’s mouth is open and red, struggling with every syllable. With a shaking hand he eases the dildo out of himself, keeping himself spread open, holding still and waiting.

“D-do you have a condom?” Molly looks to the nightstand, but Caleb’s making an impatient sound. “I know we’re clean, I just, I’m not going to  _last_ , I want you to-”

“I want you like this,  _now_ , please.” It’s clearly with some effort that Caleb looks Molly right in the eye, showing how serious he is. “I do not care if it is a long time, I just. Want. Please.”

“Whatever you want,” Molly breathes again, and knee-crawls between Caleb’s legs. He’s been here before, but it’s better now, it’s - Caleb is definitely ready, they both are. Molly’s hands only shake a little as he picks up the lube bottle again, taking far too long to get the cap back open, screwing his face up as Caleb gives a soft little huff of a laugh about it. “Soon,” Molly promises, finally pouring what has to absolutely be enough on himself, tensing a little at how cool it feels on his overheated skin.

“Soon,” Caleb echoes dreamily.

Molly strokes the lubricant over himself a few times, making sure it’s everywhere, trying to focus on that task so he doesn’t see the gorgeous human underneath him, flushed and hard and waiting for him. He tries to take a steadying breath, but he’s pretty sure it’s just a breath. “Okay,” Molly says, and leans forward on one hand while lining himself up with the other.

“Okay,” Caleb echoes again. At first contact, his opening feels slicker before - Caleb’s eyes flutter shut almost as soon as Molly starts to press in, getting far less resistance than before, it’s like Caleb’s body is  _gripping_  him rather than trying to keep him out, and inside it’s not human-cool, it’s hot, slick, feels unlike anything else and Molly trembles as he seats himself in Caleb completely. “Okay,” Caleb says again, barely audible.

“Okay?” Molly repeats, needing a more clear confirmation. He feels overwhelmed, like he’s already on the precipice, and it’s all he can do with this sensation to keep checking in, but it’s  _so important_  -

“Okay,” Caleb repeats, more firmly. “Out,” he adds, and then as an afterthought: “not all ze way.”

Molly complies, easing back and groaning louder than he meant to at the tight grip that Caleb has on him. It’s so  _good_. And looking down at Caleb, the flush and the sweat, his shoulders are tensing back and his body is arched up a little, towards him, trying to get more - Molly breathes in through his nose and eases back in, watching Caleb’s expression, the faintest of lines between his brows, but his mouth open and head nodding, nodding again as he starts to rock back and forth, slowly at first, then faster, hips flush with Caleb’s until he eases back and tries a thrust in earnest.

“ _Yeah_ ,” Caleb almost shouts, and Molly is so surprised he does it again, eyes wide and fascinated, watching Caleb’s expression open up into want and pleasure. Molly starts a rhythm, fucking into him in short measured thrusts until Caleb’s hands grip his biceps and dig in, silently demanding more, and the heat of his skin, the heat around his cock, the sight of Caleb like this is so much that Molly can feel himself losing control. Molly gasps and shudders and starts to put real muscle into it, rocking Caleb’s body back a few inches over and over as he tries to help Caleb get there too, if he can. Caleb seems to know as the movements get more erratic, reaching down and gripping himself and giving himself several rough strokes.

Molly feels it immediately. Caleb’s body is gripping him tighter now, it’s - Molly’s head drops between his shoulders and he does his best to fuck through his orgasm, to keep moving inside Caleb and giving him what he wants. Caleb’s grip on his arm is enough to bruise now, and he’s gasping for air, head back, and Molly can feel the mess of come on both their stomachs as his own body tenses and releases  _stars_  of feeling, warm waves of pleasure and heat, making him gasp for more air than he can get.

“Fuck,” Caleb is saying, as Molly eases down onto his elbows over him. Molly feels like he ran a mile. And got properly laid? His vision is fuzzy. Caleb’s face is close to his and he’s smiling.

“Was that okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For just one heartfelt comment a day, you can support this ship writer continue their unholy work. Sign up today to contribute.


	8. Chapter 8

Caleb takes the first shower, and by the time Molly’s had his and dried off, Caleb is nearly asleep.

“Welcome back,” Caleb mumbles dreamily into the pillow, reaching out toward the door that Molly just opened. Molly grins.

“You look comfortable.” He looks out into the living area, where Frumpkin has hopped down from the chair and is trotting over. “We’ve got a plus one, is that okay with you? Should I leave the door open?”

“Ja, if you don’t mind.” Caleb turns onto his side and squints his eyes open as Frumpkin hops onto the bed, stepping carefully over Caleb’s arm and then leg as he decides on a place to settle. “Leave room for Mollymauk. He gets priority,  _versteht_?”

Molly hangs his towel up on the peg on the back of the door, leaving it half-open and turning the lights off. When he walks over and gets under the thin bed sheet, Frumpkin seems to be doing some serious calculus, trying to determine just how he fits into this new equation. “There’s still room,” Molly promises, wriggling a little until Caleb’s comfortably on his back and Molly’s half on top of him. They’ve napped like this a few times, and it seems to work best. “This alright?”

“Very very alright,” Caleb agrees. He looks relaxed. Still warm from the shower, hair fluffy, a little smile on his lips. Molly can’t stop looking at him.

“And you feel okay?”

“I can feel that… it happened, but it is not sore. Just.” Caleb’s brows knit together a moment. “Distinct?”

Molly nods into his shoulder. “Do you have an alarm set for class tomorrow?”

“Lab is not until afternoon.”

“I said what I said.”

Caleb laughs. “I have one, ja, danke.”

“Bitte.” Molly nibbles his shoulder a moment before kissing it. “Ich liebe dich.”

The little sigh Caleb makes is so perfect. “Ich liebe dich auch.”

“Schlaf gut.”

“Schlaf gut.”

**

Molly wakes up slowly, to a gentle light coming on in increments. Birds begin chirping, very quietly at first, then louder. It takes him a few moments to realize that it’s a recording. Caleb mentioned adding some soft wakeup app to his SilverThread suite. This must be that.

“C’lb,” Molly says into the warm shoulder his mouth is pressed against. The shoulder moves, turning toward him, and as Molly moves back to make room, he runs out of bed. This thing is tiny. “I think your thing is goin’ off.”

“Mm.” Caleb pushes himself upright, squinting through a halo of mussed red hair. “Yes. This is the alarm.”

“It’s nice.” Molly curls around Caleb, gathering more of his warmth and preventing him from laying back down again. “What time is it?”

“Nine thirty. So I can…” He rubs his face a few times. “…take you to food… before Lab.”

It’s too early for complex English. That’s very fair. “Do you have everything packed for class?”

“Ja.” Caleb seems to be working on something in his head. “ _Let us thrive today_ ,” he says finally, in heavily accented Infernal. He starts wiggling out of bed just as Molly realizes what he said.

“You said the morning phrase!” He almost yells.

“Well, it is morning,” Caleb reasons. He begins picking clothes off the floor, pushing them into hamper and yawning.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say it!”

“We have almost never… seen each ozzer… in ze morning.” Caleb straightens up and dedicates some serious time to wiping the sleep out of his eyes. “I can make the ‘sch’ sound… not bad. But the oz… ozzer two phonemes… I know zey are still very bad.”

“Your accent is so thick in the morning.” Molly smiles fondly.

“I know, I am… bad. For mornings.” Caleb shakes his head back and forth a few times, making his hair shake out more or less into place. “Coffee? Bitte?”

**

The little diner is only a few blocks off, and it’s got very little seating left. It looks simple and cheap, so it makes sense that it’s busy - Molly guesses that the majority of the other people here are probably college students as well, low-budget and starving.

A half-elf woman comes by and pours them both coffee, promising to come back soon to take their orders. After adding two sugars and downing half of it, Caleb seems to be more awake.

“I thought you gave up on Infernal,” Molly says. He remembers how much Caleb struggled with it in Junior year, back when they started dating - couldn’t blame him, considering there’s three unique consonant sounds.

Caleb shrugs, but he looks a little caught out. “I read an article about language preservation and got back into it. Or, tried to.” He tilts his head. “What is the one you say to other tieflings? Ones you don’t know?”

Molly laughs. “’Another one’,” he says, and then says it slowly in Infernal. “It’s not an old traditional one, it’s more of a modern joke.”

Caleb tilts his head.

“Like, ‘another tiefling! In the same place out in public! Imagine!’” Molly frowns, feeling like he’s not explaining it very well. “It’s sort of a tongue-in-cheek way to acknowledge the person, saying hi without starting a conversation or anything.”

“Infernal is sassy, I think.”

Molly considers this. “That’s fair.”

“Good morning,” a quiet voice says, and Molly looks up to see a young halfling man passing by and nodding his head to Caleb. Caleb nods back, a little blearily. When the halfling’s across the room at a new table, Molly tilts his head to Caleb.

“A biochemistry major that lives in my building.” He makes a guilty face. “I don’t remember his name. We do not have any classes together.”

“Shit, I hate that.” Molly thinks about it. “Is there a resident… registry… thing? Somewhere? You could look him up?”

Caleb considers this. “There must be. Caduceus must have one… I am sure if I saw his name on paper I would recognize it.”

“I used to feel like you never forgot  _anything_.”

Caleb laughs. “The last couple months has. Pushed that to its limit, I think.” He lifts his chin toward a couple sharing pancakes in the corner. “I should know her name, too. She was in one of my classes for two weeks, then dropped it … I think it starts with… hm.” Caleb worries his lip.

“You’re not a robot after all,” Molly teases.

“You will love me still, even if I am just a boring human?”

“Absolutely,” Molly says with confidence. “Pink and squishy. It’s what I signed up for.”

Caleb blushes, smiling down at the menu. “Will you tell me more Infernal phrases?”

“Only if you promise not to beat yourself up for not being able to say them first try.”

“No promises.”

Molly rolls his eyes. “ _Be safe on your journey,_ ” he says slowly in Infernal, and then translates it. “You usually only say it when you know you’re not gonna see someone for a long time. If you say it to like, someone you’re gonna see tomorrow, you’re probably really old and old-school.”

“All the phrases sound old school,” Caleb admits.

“Yeah.” Molly shrugs. “I don’t know, most of the other ones are just for the home.”

“So you never really used them,” Caleb hazards.

“Not that I can remember.”

“But do you like them?”

Molly mulls it over, leaning back in his chair. “Did you wanna learn the home ones because…?”

Caleb has taken this moment to take another long sip from his coffee.

“Are you trying to make sure I feel at home?” Molly laughs, almost immediately regretting this reaction when Caleb looks hurt. “I just- no, it’s funny because it’s so  _much_. You already - honey.” He reaches his hand out across the table. “I’m laughing because you  _don’t need to do all this_.” He waits until Caleb, reluctantly, puts his hand out to be held. “You don’t need to make me want to be here.” Caleb doesn’t say anything, looking down at the menu with no expression. “With  _you_.”

“I have… overdone it,” Caleb says carefully.

“You haven’t ruined anything, you just did more than you needed to. Even if you never researched troupes, if you never picked Infernal back up, it’s -” Molly squeezes his hand. “ _You’re_ still here.”

Caleb nods, but he still looks uncertain. Molly’s tail frets behind him as he tries to find the right words.

“ _You are my potato_ ,” Molly says quietly, making Caleb’s mouth turn into a reluctant smile. Molly smiles back.

“Maybe not this semester, or this year, but.” Caleb looks up, hesitant but hopeful. “When I’ve made enough money, and I can buy an apartment. You would be happy here? Maybe?”

Molly squeezes tighter. “I mean, I’ve only been here a little while, but I know I wanna be where you are. I’ll keep visiting. And bribing Caduceus into looking the other way. And we’ll figure it out together?”

“Okay. Okay.” Caleb nods, digesting this. He looks cautiously happy.

“As long as you don’t mind that I won’t be able to contribute as much.” Molly watches Caleb become confused. “Money, I mean.”

Caleb’s expression opens in understanding, and then immediately becomes dismissive. “That does not matter.”

“And if I wear makeup and skirts sometimes.”

Caleb fixes him with a familiar hard-headed expression. “We can go shopping for some after my Lab today,” he says levelly.

Molly laughs. “You’re really not going to let me be insecure about that stuff, are you?”

“Nein.”

“Then I won’t let you be insecure about whether I like you.”

“That is… fair.”

**

Molly teaches Caleb the phrase before a good meal: “ _It will nourish not just our stomachs but our souls_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Trade complete! If I ever do more, it will be as Pasadena Iced Coffee Refill, and it will be later, after some kickin’ back. Thanks for being lovely readers.)

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to [Cait](https://twitter.com/caitmayart) for funding this sequel through an art trade. Send her love on Twitter and come say hi to [me](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ivadeshin) on Tumblr.


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